‘Ivey League’ Admissions: Umanmielen was praising Ole Miss, not throwing shade at Florida
Princely Umanmielen ruffled some online feathers this week after throwing some post-practice shade at Florida, his former team.
Umanmielen spent four seasons as a Gator before transferring to Ole Miss in the off-season. He’s ranked as the No. 7 returning EDGE in college football by Pro Football Focus.
“I feel like here I’m getting coached harder for things like (attacking the run game),” Umanmielen innocently began. “I feel like at Florida, the way I was coached, it was almost as if they were just telling me to go out there and use my talent.
“Here, coach Lou (Spanos) and coach (Randall) Joyner have been really on me about the little things. Coach Lou really goes through the progressions of the drops and the routes that are being run when I have to go into coverage. When I was at Florida, it was like they would just tell me to drop to this area and I would have to figure out everything else on my own.
“Here, they go real in-depth. I feel like I’m actually getting developed here.”
Ouch.
“I don’t know who he’s throwing shade at, but that’s rough,” On3 national college football analyst Andy Staples said.
Fellow On3 CFB analyst JD PicKell doesn’t think Umanmielen was intentionally going after his former team.
Umanmielen last season led the Gators in sacks (7.0) and tackles for loss (11.5). He ranked fourth of all Power 5 EDGE rushers in pass-rush win rate (22.2 percent). He had the second-most run-defense stops (42).
“I think he tried to prop up his current coaching staff and say some positive things that he genuinely felt about the people coaching him now and say how that was a positive transition for him,” PicKell said this week, in a new episode of his ‘Hard Count’ podcast.
“That backhand, man, is pesky. Backhand kind of hit Florida in an unfortunate circumstance.”
Umanmielen is next up in the ‘Ivey League,’ a podcast powered by RiverLand Roofing and in exclusive partnership with the Ole Miss Spirit/On3. The ‘Ivey League’ is hosted by third-year starting defensive lineman Jared Ivey.
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The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Umanmielen joined Ivey this week for a new episode of the show to be released in the coming days. He directly addressed his comments.
“Things just got to coming out without really thinking,” Umanmielen said. “It came out the wrong way. If I had to re-say it, it would just be that it’s different coaching styles.
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Umanmielen specifically had praise for Spanos, Ole Miss’ lead analyst.
“It took me a minute to get used to coach Lou, but I love coach Lou. (Wednesday), for example, I wasn’t practicing. I was in a black (injury-designation) jersey. He had me standing right next to him getting the signals. He walked through every single play with me. If I was in my stance and made the play but I didn’t have enough knee-bend in my stance, he’s going to point it out. He pays attention to all the small, small details.
“It’s different coaching styles. That’s really it.”
Well, and a different culture, too.
“It’s almost military-based the way (Billy) Napier runs things,” Umanmielen said. “Can’t wear ear rings when we’re working out. No wristbands, Apple watches (and) you’ve got to tuck your shirt in.”
